Retirees practice tai chi during their morning exercise on a hazy day in Fuyang, in central China's Anhui province, Jan. 14. Air pollution is a major problem in China due to the country's rapid pace of industrialization, reliance on coal power, explosive growth in car ownership and disregard for environmental laws.

Retirees practice tai chi during their morning exercise on a hazy day in Fuyang, in central China's Anhui province, Jan. 14. Air pollution is a major problem in China due to the country's rapid pace of industrialization, reliance on coal power, explosive growth in car ownership and disregard for environmental laws. (Associated Press)

Few have experienced more rapid success in China than the auto industry, which has doubled its volume sales in just the last four years. But as anger simmers over the country's air pollution, fingers are increasingly pointing at the millions of new cars clogging Chinese roads. After a weekend in which the country experienced some of its worst smog on record, the Ministry of Environmental Protection pledged Monday to reduce vehicle emissions, the source of about a quarter of China's air pollution.